Crawley started the game with the same line up that did so well at Swindon; that meant no recall for defender Darren Ward who was not allowed to play in the match. The Blades brought in Matt Done in the only change made by Nigel Clough from their win over Rochdale replacing Marc McNulty

Town started in the same vein as they did against the Robins the previous weekend and closed down the Blades at every opportunity, tackles we flying in and

Jay McEveley’s challenge on Gavin Tomlin could be heard around the stadium. United’s Ryan Flynn had an early chance with a run and shot that rebounded off Woods. The Red Devils were quick on the counter attack and on 15 minutes Mathias Pogba unleashed a thunderbolt 35-yard effort which Turner tipped over the crossbar for a corner. Both teams were struggling with the rain and swirling wind.

In the 16th minute, United had a ‘goal’ ruled-out for offside when Basham helped an angled drive from Bob Harris found its way into the back of the net.

Lewis Young was then yellow carded for tripping Murphy when the midfielder was running at the Crawley goal.

The Red Devils route to goal seemed to be pumping high balls into the Blades half; it was from one such delivery that Pogba saw his shot deflect off a defender.

McLeod then joined Young in the referee’s notebook after catching Harris with a late challenge. On 33 minutes United’s injured Kennedy was replaced by Kieron Freeman.

In the 37th minute, Flynn cut back a low cross which Murphy met first time. His shot was saved by Price and, when Michael Doyle met the rebound, only Richard Wood’s superb block prevented him from breaking the deadlock.

Like Swindon last week, United began the second in exactly the same fashion; they were moving the ball visibly quicker, particularly when they looked to turn defense into attack. Brayford shot was saved by Price with the rebound being missed by Done.

The resilient Red Devils had been working hard, so on 60 minutes; a tired Lee Fowler’s was replaced by Jimmy Smith in midfield. United were still the dominant side; forcing Price to making yet more saves. But the Red Devils kept them at bay. The Red Devils were gaining encouragement that they were still in the game against one of the promotion favorites and in the 63rd minute, they took the lead. Wordsworth swept an in swinging free-kick into the visitors penalty area and Richard Wood fired the ball home for his first goal for the home side since joining from Rotherham. Crawley should have been awarded a penalty when Izale McLeod was pulled down just in the penalty area, for some reason, only the match official can explain why he waved the appeal away with the home support baying for the foul to be given. That could have been game and 3 points for the home side.

United’s Flynn made way for Marc McNulty, and United continuing to do absolutely everything but score. Freeman clipped a high ball into the box but Price cleared. Both Matt Done and Coutts saw shots cleared by the home defense. The Blade’s superiority was telling and we’re they camped in the Crawley half, thankfully the Red Devils slender advantage remained. That was, until in the 81 minute, Doyle flicked on Turner’s clearance and Ryan Dickson brought down Done as the striker darted through in exactly the same way as McLeod’s minutes earlier. Both Woods and Dickson were booked in the aftermath for contesting the award by referee Charles Breakespear. Substitute McNulty levelled from the penalty spot. Darren Ward replaced Edwards in the final minutes of the game. The Red Devils survived through five minutes of added time, with the match finishing level, a point that would have been accepted at the start by the home fans.

The Red Devils captain is on his way to fellow Skybet League 1 side MK Dons, with the medical already taken place it is likely to go through today (Monday 2nd March). Initially it is a loan move, but with a permanent deal in place for next season. Joe will be linking up with former team mate Kyle McFadzean who was signed at the end of last season. Joe Walsh was due to make his come back tomorrow at Bradford City, but with this move on; his last match will have been the game against Doncaster Rovers where he was red carded for a late tackle. All of us at GH Coaches wish him well and hope he can bring success to MK and also further his international career with Wales. Joe and his family have been friends of ours since he joined from Swansea, so much so that last season we tried to sponsor him but were denied by the football club as they did not want GH Coaches being advertised in the match-day programme.

GH COACHES TRAVEL NEWS

BRADFORD CITY – Tuesday 3rd March 2015 – 7.45pm kick off.

The Red Devils next away game is on Tuesday evening 3rd March when they travel to up to Yorkshire to play Bradford City – unfortunately due to the distance and low numbers available to travel, GH Coaches are not able to provide any supporters transport to this game – some of us are driving up to Bradford and staying overnight then returning on Wednesday morning.

AWAY TRAVEL WITH GH COACHES – Next coach will be to COLCHESTER UNITED on Saturday 14th March 2015 – another must win game against a team also battling against relegation.

Travelling to Colchester couldn’t be easier – affordable door to door service, just sit back, relax and enjoy/join in the banter/debates on the coach about your favourite subject – Crawley Town Football Club.

GH Coaches are running their normal supporters coach to this game departing the New Moon at Midday – kick off is 3.00pm - Costs are £1O.00 for everyone travelling - for this match we are prepared to take 15 & 16 year olds travelling unaccompanied as it is straight to the ground in Colchester and straight back to Crawley after the game – however we will need the parents consent and also to drop them off and collect from the New Moon on our return unless otherwise agreed - we will also need a couple of contact numbers in case of any emergencies.

Please contact Alain on 07771-792346 to book on the coach – we are now officially the cheapest way to travel to the away matches - £7.50 cheaper on this game – so why pay more than you have too, travel with GH Coaches.

NEXT HOME MATCH – SATURDAY 7th MARCH 2015 Kick off 3.00pm

BRISTOL CITY

Red Devils to spring another surprise and

continue the fight against relegation

This Saturday the Red Devils have another mouth watering match against another of the “BIG” teams in League 1 – Nigel Clough brings his promotion contenders Sheffield United to the Checkatrade.com stadium for what is going to be another stern test for the home side. In recent weeks we have to praise the team for their effort and performances if not the flowing football we all like to see, but grinding out results that will hopefully see the Red Devils survive in this league at the end of the season.

Last Saturdays remarkable win at Swindon go to prove a point that Crawley can compete and spoil the efforts of the opponents – granted that Swindon on the day were the better side, and that can be said from the home match against the Robins, but we took 6 points of a promotion team - we are now on a two match unbeaten run going in to this weekend’s match – hopefully winning will become a habit now having broken the losing and drawing 15 match streak.

The team on Saturday will be strengthened by the return of Darren Ward who was unable to play against Swindon, so Dean Saunders will have a selection issue whether to keep the winning team from last weekend. Sonny Bradley and new loan signing Richard Wood didn’t put a foot wrong against Swindon and it would be harsh to drop either of them. Saunders could even play all three and change the system; play 3 at the back with Lewis Young and Ryan Dickson as wing backs, but then who do you omit from midfield. We will see on Saturday when the team is selected – we still have injury doubts – whether any of them are back for Saturday will be doubtful. At the moment there is no definite news on any except for Brian Jensen who came through an arranged friendly on Tuesday evening a 1 – 0 defeat against Eastbourne Borough. He did it with no problems and will probably be on the bench for Saturday. Also in the team were suspended Joe Walsh, Jimmy Smith and Bobson Bawling – the remains of the team made up of the fringe players and trialists.

Nigel Clough who’s side are currently 5th in the League 1 table will also have selection changes as strike Jose Baxter is suspended for the

match having been red carded last Saturday against Coventry in their 2 - 2 draw and Marc McNulty came off with an injury at half time against Rochdale on Tuesday evening when they beat Rochdale at Spotlands 2 – 1. The Blades are likely to include Matt Done in the squad, who the Red Devils will need to be aware of as he scored a hat-trick at the Checkatrade.com stadium when playing for Rochdale earlier in the season. The Red Devils match at Bramall Lane back in September ended in a 1 – 0 home win, with Jose Baxter scoring in the 48 minute with just over 18000 fans in the stadium – that is 3 times the capacity of our home stadium.

Again, Match tickets are available from the club office up until kick off on Saturday – with the efforts put in and the two wins on the bounce; a large attendance is expected, especially with the Blades contingent, let’s hope that the many missing home fans return for this match mouth watering game and get behind the Red Devils.

Last Saturday at Swindon a new flag appeared in the visitors section on the Arkell Stand – It pronounced “That Tin Pot Club from Sussex” Crawley Town – with the Red Devils fans having now taken a self mockery stance at how other club’s supporter’s view Crawley, it has lead to a new couple of chants as well – it was even in a text read out on BBC’s 606 programme on Saturday evening, hopefully the flag will be on display on Saturday. Other suggestion that have come in since - is that we should change a) the shirts to Silver, b) the mascot to the Tin Man (ex wizard of oz”) with supporter’s dressing up as the “Tin Man” for the last away game of the season at Peterborough United – who can forget the penguins and smurf’s from Hartlepool in recent seasons visiting Crawley.

OVERNIGHT TO “SUNNY” SCUNTHORPE – Saturday 11th April 2015

With the last game of the season being a relatively near match at Peterborough, we have decided that the last overnight game would be our visit to Scunthorpe United on the 11th April 2015 – the intension is to stop at a hotel in Newark, just of the A1 on the return journey.

This is for one night – the Saturday evening and the costs would include the B & B, buffet on the journey to Scunthorpe at Blyth (the Red Hart) and coach travel.

The Hotel (Millgate House Hotel) is in Newark centre, it’s also near the River Trent for those couples who want a romantic stroll along the river bank in the evening – the hotel does have a evening menu or you can visit the restaurants and bars close by. It’s somewhere different that we haven’t visited before so we may have found another gem to add to our list of hotels.

Costs for the trip is £65.00 for adults, sorry for single rooms it will be £85.00 (but I will try and get this reduced) and children sharing is £40.00.

If you are interested please let me know – as I would like to get approximate numbers and the room’s provisionally booked so that we don’t lose them.

Alain and Kevin have been organising the Red Devils supporters coaches now for over 20 years with Crawley Luxury – who can forget the 17 coaches to Hayes, then 32 to Brighton but more recently the 26 to Old Trafford for the epic FA Cup match against Manchester United which was 4 years ago yesterday - time flies don't it.

We are now meeting at the New Moon on match days and can say that it has been very well refurbished and there is plenty of TV’s to watch the live matches. The match day menu offer is also extremely good value as well. Come and join us and take a look for yourself - in weeks to come there will be more CTFC memorabilia being put on to the walls and some have said the ceilings – we would like to thank Steve Duly for most the items on display, that said other supporters have also offer items to the New Moon.

Below is some info for you – where we are going, their home colours and what the Red Devils may be playing in and how far we are travelling. Our next away game is the match at Bradford City, we have a 492 mile round trip departing on the Tuesday afternoon at 2.00am - some of us are driving up and staying the night in Bradford - the list is getting shorter now just 7 matches remaining on the road.